Conventionally, there have been developed vehicles such as electric vehicles or hybrid vehicles in which an electric rotary machine is provided as a power source. In particular, in hybrid vehicles, it is strongly desired that an electric rotary machine module occupies less space to enable the coexistence with an engine or to ensure comfort in the form of dwelling comfort, riding comfort and the like. As one form of such an electric rotary machine module, there is one in which rotating axes of plural electric rotary machines are aligned in the same direction and the plural electric rotary machines are disposed adjacent to each other along the direction of rotating axes of rotors thereof (refer to, for example, WO-2008-007806-A).
In WO-2008-007806-A, a motor module 100 includes, as shown in FIG. 7, a first and second electric rotary machines 101, 102 which are disposed adjacent to each other in the direction of rotating axes of rotors thereof. Feeding cables 103, 104 are provided to extend from the same direction and are electrically connected to the first and second electric rotary machines 101, 102 by first and second connecting mechanisms 105, 106. The first connecting mechanism 105 is disposed at an outer circumferential portion of the first electric rotary machine 101, and the second connecting mechanism 106 is disposed between the first and second electric rotary machines 101, 102 which lie adjacent to each other in the way described above, thereby suppressing dimension of the motor module 100 in the direction of the rotating axis thereof and improving assembling work of the electric rotary machines.
There is also known a segmented coil type electric rotary machine. In this type of electric rotary machine, coil segments which each are formed into a U-shape by a pair of leg portions and a connecting portion which connects together the pair of leg portions are inserted in slots in a stator core, and portions of the leg portions which project from opposite sides of the slots are bent in a circumferential direction of the stator core to be connected to corresponding coil segments for formation of a segmented coil, whereby the space factor of the segmented coil is enhanced.
In WO-2008-007806-A however, since the second connecting mechanism 106 is disposed between the first and second electric rotary machines 101, 102, the electric rotary machine module becomes large in the axial direction. Additionally, since the first connecting mechanism 105 is disposed at the outer circumferential portion of the first electric rotary machine 101, the module also becomes large in the radial direction. Thus, the installability of the electric rotary machine module into the vehicle is deteriorated, and an improvement in this respect is desired. Above all, in a hybrid vehicle in which an electric rotary machine is also disposed in an engine compartment where an engine, a transmission, a control unit and the like are installed, the desire for improvement becomes stronger. In addition, a feeding path from a power supply to the electric rotary machine becomes long, whereby the system loss becomes large, and therefore, there is also room for improvement in this respect.
In addition, in the segmented coil type electric rotary machine, although it is desired that a distributing member and a feeding portion are disposed in an axial position at an end of the segmented coil, in the event that they are simply disposed in the axial position, the axial dimension of the electric rotary machine module is increased, deteriorating the installability of the module into the vehicle.